I Do, You Don't
by K.C Daring
Summary: Erza had always dreamed of marriage and she knew exactly what she wanted since she was a child. Gray was her best friend, that slowly grew to love the red head, but was too afraid to act on it. One letter changes everything and Gray has to decide whether or not he will reveal his heart to Erza or risk losing her forever. (Gray/Erza/Jellal) (Natsu/Lucy)


Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or the fictitious places used within this story, all rights belong to their creator Hiro Mashima.

I Do, You Don't.

Part One: And So They Met

A young man was seated at a table, in a quiet and cozy, cafe. The tiny space was filled with the aroma of coffee beans and the low chatterings of the few patrons that were scattered throughout the room. Gray Fullbuster sipped the coffee he had purchased a little while before, he didn't browse the internet, he had no friend to make small talk with, for he had only come with his thoughts. His grey blue eyes appeared to be locked on the table, but he didn't see the marred oak wood that was before him. His thoughts had drifted to someplace in the past, when he was younger, and when he believed that nothing bad could befall him. He had returned to the days he had passed through the rooms of Scarlet Hall in the company of his friends, Natsu, Lucy, and more specifically, Erza. She had been his closest friend, someone whom he could share all his deepest secrets with and give to her the most unwavering trust. In turn, he knew all of Erza's dreams and aspirations, and one thing she spoke of far more than anything else, was marriage.

He tumbled back into his youthful days, when he spent the daylight hours playing in the sun, and fearing little of the future that was ahead of him. Gray had never been given the most normal of lives, but he had always managed to make the best of what he had. His family had been of little means, but what they lacked in riches was compensated with a warm love. Tragedy struck his home shortly after his seventh birthday, an electrical fire broke out from an outlet in his parents bedroom. Both had been trapped inside, leaving the young Gray spontaneously orphaned, and he quickly became a ward of the state. He spent the next five years within the confines of Scarlet Hall Orphanage. The stone building had a rather deary outer appearance. It stood upon a hill, surrounded by wrought iron and perpetually leafless trees. The wind would often howl between the bare limbs and would squeeze into the cracks of the old structure; which lent to the drafty nature of the hall.

Although his situation sounded bleak and that his temporary home of Scarlet Hall hinted towards unlivable, the people who worked there made the best of what they had. Head Mistress Porlyusica was firm but fair and the rest of the staff was warm and kind. Gray had come to the hall depressed and despondent. His roommate, Natsu, had done what he could to cheer up the new comer, but to no avail. Gray spent the better part of two weeks locked inside his new room as he hoped he would soon wake to find the whole of the events to be nothing but a nightmare. It wasn't until the proprietor, Mr Scarlet, stopped by for visit in the company of his young daughter, Erza, that Gray began to change. Natsu had quickly brought word to the petite redhead of the broken hearted boy that had become the coinhabitant of his room. She was instantly intrigued and curious to find out what bothered the young boy that her friend had spoken of. So she set off, without a word, to find out.

Gray could hear the quick taps of the unwanted guest's steps as she briskly climbed the stairs and down the narrow hallway to his door. She opened the apparatus cautiously, she peered inside and searched the room with a curious gaze. It only took a moment for her eyes to fall upon the form that sat in the corner farthest from where she stood. She believed him to be the same age as herself, although the way he was all tucked into himself gave him a much smaller appearance. His soft black bangs fell in front of his face and shielded his eyes and he remained quiet and unmoving; even as she entered the room. She crossed the floor carefully, she didn't stop until she stood before him, and once again she glanced at his still form. He hadn't moved in a feeble attempt to get the intrudure to leave without speaking to him. He still hugged his knees tightly as he tried to stop the shake that constantly ripped through his limbs; the one he had been plagued with since his parents death.

She watched on silently as the boy incessantly wrang his hands together or fidgeted his fingers anxiously. She stooped down to be at eye level with him, he still made no attempt to move, so she sat down in front of him crossed legged. Determined to get his attention she finally shattered the sorrowful quiet. "Hey there." His head snapped upwards at the sudden voice that broke into the hush he had placed himself in. The movement sent his hair bouncing and his pained stormy blue eyes fell upon her brown ones. "Oh...hello." She had never heard someone speak with such a melencholy tone. It was as though all the life had faded from it, she couldn't hear any spirit or soul in the one word he had spoken. Now Gray hadn't allowed the surprise to show but he had never expected to see a girl seated in front of him.

He had believed his visitor to be none other than his roommate, Natsu. Instead his eyes beheld her, a girl with ruby red hair, warm cinnamon orbs, and a smile that rivaled the sun with its shine. It took all the nerve he had just to return her kind greeting and it sounded as pathetic as he felt. She remained where she was, she didn't move to leave him, as so many others had done before her when oppossed with his dejection. Upon further inspection, he found the look on her face much closer to determination than defeat. She swiftly snatched his fidgeting hands up in hers, quite instantly interrupting the unintentional movements, and again she spoke. "I'm Erza Scarlet. My father is the owner of Scarlet Hall and his great great grandfather was the founder of the orphanage." She said the sentence with such pride, but at the final word that passed her lips, the tears welled up in Gray's eyes.

She stared at him in bewildered silence as she wondered what she had said that could have upset him in such a manner. "So it's true then? This isn't a nightmare and my mom and dad are really gone forever?" He choked on a sob before he lowered his head again. He had pulled his hands out of her soft hold and his arms were now folded and placed upon his knees. His forehead rested on the limbs and he shook with the silent sobs that racked his small frame. Erza often forgot why these children had come to live within Scarlet Hall Orphanage, to her each one was another opportunity to make friends, but Gray had reminded her, in an instant, that none of them that lived there had any parents or home to return to. Tears then began to fill her eyes as well, she wanted to say something to make the boy feel better, but could find no words of solace to give. So she did the only act of comfort she could perform and she wrapped the boy, whose name she did not know, in a hug.

Erza just held the boy, in silence, as he mourned. She stroked his hair with a gentle hand, as her mother did for her when she needed to be soothed. She stayed at her station until the trembling had begun to cease and the well to his tears had finally started to dry up. The redhead blamed herself for his tears, she should have chosen her words more carefully, and then none of this would have happened. "I'm sorry, I hadn't meant to upset you." The girl carefully retreated, she felt as though she was holding a fragile glass doll, and if she wasn't gentle enough the boy would crack again. He peered up timidly, she could once again see the stormy color of his eyes, that were now red rimmed, but the rest of his face remained hidden behind his arms. "You didn't really do anything. I had just foolishly tricked myself into believing this was all some kind of terrible nightmare." He had murmured the words so softly that she could only just barely make them out.

Erza sat in thoughtful contemplation. She knew the boy now felt entirely alone in this world and he needed friends to make it through this difficult moment in his young life. "Well if you tell me your name, I will come back tomorrow and we will play together. I just can't be friends with a stranger though, my father won't allow that." He stared at her then, for a moment in confusion, but a tiny spark lit his eyes and a small smile played on the lips she couldn't see. "I'm Gray, Gray Fullbuster." She nodded her head, she liked his name a great deal, and she offered him her hand to shake. He took it slowly, both children clasped their hands together, one as a casual introduction, the other as a means to find anything real to cling onto. She pulled her hand up then down once and a grin broke out on her face. "It's nice to meet you Gray. I hope you are ready for a day of fun tomorrow, because I expect you to keep up with me. Okay?" He blinked away the dullness that settled over his gaze, he was a little overwhelmed by her cheerful disposition. "Um, yeah, okay."

The following morning was a day most would describe as glorious, but Gray could only feel apprehension. Erza was supposed to come and see him again and she had expectations of him entertaining her. Yet he was doubtful if he could complete such a simple task when it was an inner battle to even convince himself to crawl out of bed and downstairs for breakfast. The social workers and his fellow orphans appeared rather surprised to see him venture out of his room, but this wasn't the first time Erza had worked her magic and it probably wasn't her last. Natsu patted the chair next to him in excited anticipation, he had been hoping for a roommate ever since he arrived at Scarlet Hall. His onyx eyes shimmered gleefully and a wide grin split his face. Gray found the pink shade of his hair to be rather odd but unique to the boy and distinguished him from the others. "It's good to see you come out of that room, I thought you were gonna hide up there forever or something."

Gray tried to think of some way to respond, but only drew a blank so he remained unspeaking. Natsu didn't really need for his new companion to be too vocal as he could often chatter on for hours with little to no encouragement. "I mean, it's not like you're the first to come here like that, but you definitely stayed all to yourself the longest. It's a good thing Erza came when she did or you would probably still be up there all alone in that corner." The raven haired boy picked at his meal with disinterested movements, he didn't feel all that hungry, but felt he would need to eat to keep up his energy for the day. "Do you really think she's going to come back here just to play games with me?" Part of him was hopeful she would because he had been rather lonely since coming to the orphanage. Yet another part of him hoped she would stay home, so he could climb the stairs and go back to his room. He couldn't disappoint his bed or the little corner, he often sat in, with his less than enthusiastic mentality.

His torn hopes were soon put to an end when the door swung open and two young girls skipped into the entryway with giddy delight. Erza he instantly recognized, but beside her stood a short blonde with big brown eyes that roamed over the faces of the orphan children. A huge smile broke out on her face when she had spotted the pink hair of the boy she searched for. She waved her slim hand in the air joyfully, before she called out in excitement. "Natsu! I came to see you today. Wanna come play with me?" The boy she had directed her question to, quickly jumped up from his chair and the two of them bounded out the door together. Gray, once again, felt uneasy. He wanted his new friend to have a good day, but he wasn't sure if he could muster up that much excitement nor could he fake such energy. Erza approached the place he was seated, she wasn't at all surprised that he would seat himself in the corner of the main parlor. Even when he was in the company of the other children, Gray had still managed to somehow isolate himself.

Erza did not stray from her mission, he would have fun with her, because that was the intention she went there with. She marched over to him and took his hand in an already familiar way. Gray could tell by her confidence and actions, that the red head was not often deterred from getting her way. "C'mon Gray, we are gonna go play outside. On a day as nice as this, you really shouldn't spend it cooped up in the hall." She then took off towards the door with his hand still tightly clutched in hers. He was pulled along behind her as she ran, he stumbled over his own two feet, but she still dragged him forward until they were both outside. Once they were in the yard, Gray did stop for a moment to soak in the sun. It was a lovely spring morning. A cool breeze played through the branches and over the grass. There was the scent of flowers carried in from some nearby location and there wasn't a single cloud to disrupt the endless blue of the ever expanding sky.

She turned to him abruptly and stared at him with a mild curiosity. Her mind raced as she considered how she could get the heartbroken boy to have a little bit of fun. "Lets see. Do you wanna play tag, hide and go seek, house, or my favorite game?" Gray blinked his stormy colored eyes, his head was cocked in question, and he genuinely wanted to know what her favorite game was. "How can I choose if I don't know what the last one is?" The redhead hoped he would ask something like that, because it gave her the excuse to show him and do exactly what she wanted to do. "Then we can play my favorite game and you can find out what it is." She lead him quite a distance away from the orphanage, he followed but did fear that he would get in trouble for wandering too far from the hall.

By the end of their short journey, the unlikely pair stood underneath the roof of a white gazebo. It was situated in the garden behind a gorgeous cottage style home and was surrounded by a colorful sea of flowers. "You wait right here, Gray, I have to go inside to get the guest and Pastor Panda. Seriously, don't go anywhere. I can't play wedding without a groom." She quickly sprinted into the house to gather the necessary plush toys while Gray waited exactly where she had left him. It took her long enough to return, that the blush that had tinted the boy's cheeks had entirely faded away. Once he had reminded himself that they were just playing a game, the shyness had completely dissolved and left him at ease. He watched on in fascination as she dropped several full bags onto the lawn, she pulled the plush guests out one by one, and sat them each in their own reserved spot. She returned with the toy panda, the one he assumed to be 'Pastor Panda' and placed it one the stool.

She then opened the last bag, she took a tie and top hat from it, and demanded that he put them on. For herself, she put on a veil, a pearl necklace, and white heels that were much too big for her. The final touch was a bouquet made from artificial flowers and she beamed at him with sheer joy. "One day, I'm gonna get married for real. It's gonna be a beautiful ceremony, with candles and lanterns. Flowers too, magnolias, azaleas, and rhododendrons. My granddaddy will preform the service and it'll be a quiet wedding out in the country. You'll see." The two played her favorite game until the sun had begun to set and night crept up on them. Gray returned to the hall alone, he was worn up, but a smile tugged at his lips anyway. Erza had been able to make him laugh and forget his troubles when he had thought he would never be happy again. The girl with the ruby red hair had given him the most wonderful of gifts, she had returned to him the hope he had lost and offered him the promise for a brighter future.

That evening after supper had been eaten, the children were sent off for another nights rest, and Gray laid in his bed and stared at the ceiling. The sound of ruffling sheets caught his attention as Natsu rolled over to face the other boy from his bed. "Did you have fun playing with Erza today?" The small smile played over his features once more and he nodded his head in affirmation. "Yeah, she's got some imagination and some big dreams. She pretty cool." Natsu was relieved to know the boy could speak more than single word replies that he had grown accustomed to since the newcomer had arrived. "Erza is well liked around here, she's everyone's friend, but you're the first one that she took to her house." Gray's curiosity filled gaze moved and fell on the boy with the pink locks. "Really?" The other boy shrugged his shoulders dismissively. "Yup, she must really like you." Natsu closed his onyx eyes, while Gray rolled over and faced the wall. He felt oddly honored that Erza would share a part of her world with a sad kid like him. That was the first night Gray fell asleep without feeling completely alone in the world.

(A.N This story was inspired by the song Marry Me by Thomas Rhett, I will not be including the lyrics. Let me know if you want Gray to get a happy ending, a sad ending or an alternate ending thing where there is the option.)


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